Take Action:
Boycott Gallo Wine(BeyondPesticides, July 19, 2005)
On June 14, 2005, the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO (UFW) launched its
second boycott of Gallo wine in 32 years and the union’s first
major nationwide boycott in more than two decades. With contract negotiations
set for July 21, 2005 in Santa Rosa, CA, UFW is stepping up its boycott
of Gallo wine with supporters gathering today in 19 cities across the
U.S. to distribute boycott appeals online. The Washington, DC event
will be hosted by Beyond Pesticides. The first National Day of Internet
Organizing for “No Gallo!” will be followed by similar events
held in the U.S. and in some of the other 85 other countries where Gallo
wines are sold.

According to UFW,
farmworkers have been trying to negotiate a new contract at Gallo's
high-end winery, Gallo of Sonoma for nearly two years. Gallo of Sonoma
hires the majority of its farm workers through labor contractors but
wants to deny them the health benefits and contract protections provided
to direct hires.

The Gallos deny
the majority of their Sonoma County vineyard workers benefits and grievance
rights. UFW says that the Gallos abuse, cheat and deny these workers
benefits, job protections and humane living conditions in the heart
of California’s fabled wine country. The Gallos say they have
no responsibility for the miserable conditions endured by their vineyard
employees because they are “temporary workers.” Gallo is
a multi-billon dollar company yet pays less than other Sonoma County
wineries.

Farmworkers who
are exposed to toxic pesticides on an ongoing basis are at greater risk
for cancer, birth defects, depression and other diseases, as well as
work-related injury. Under current U.S. pesticide law, farmworkers are
not treated as equals with the rest of society. Pesticide cancer and
other disease risks are permitted to be ten times higher for farmworkers
than the general population.

Farmworkers have
marched, sent letters and petitioned the company to negotiate a fair
contract. With no progress on negotiations, they turned to people of
goodwill nationwide to boycott all Gallo products.

Gallo wines sell
under the following brand names (sometimes the back label will say Gallo):

TAKE
ACTION:Join the boycott of Gallo wines. SIGN
THE PETITION! For background information, sample letters and to
sign the online petition, visit www.gallounfair.com.
If you are in the Washington, DC area and would like to participate
in the email action lunch, contact John Kepner at jkepner@beyondpesticides.org.
About the event: While the boycott officially began about a month ago,
the purpose of this event is to spread the word and make the campaign
"go viral." Join other activists in sending email alerts to
your friends, family and colleagues during the email-action lunch. Sure,
you could spread the word from your office, but the idea is to get together,
show support for the farmworker community and have lunch and a glass
of non-Gallo organic wine with other campaign supporters. We will provide
sample text, which you will be able to customize for your audience.
To participate, you may: a) bring your laptop and connect to our wireless
network, b) bring your email list on CD or floppy disk, or c) email
your email list in advance to jkepner@beyondpesticides.org.